Chapter 130: A busy school day.

As Yuna and Naomi enthusiastically pulled Lala away to give her a grand tour of the school, Lala made sure to steal one last glance at Kai.

Then, slowly, she licked her lower lip and she sent him a very "sadistic" smile, like she had caught an interest in him in a very physical way.

It was a quick, almost imperceptible motion—but not to Kai.

A shiver ran down his spine as he felt "bad".

It wasn't attraction.

It wasn't interest.

It was the unmistakable feeling of being marked.

Lala probably sent a hidden message to Hina.

"Your boyfriend is quite attractive, isn't he...? It would be a shame if I lay my hands on him..."

Hina caught everything in that brief moment.

Her eyes darkened and her aura sharpened even more than usual.

Lala, still smiling like an innocent transfer student, turned her attention back to Yuna and Naomi as if nothing had happened.

But before they could leave, Hina's expression twisted into a glare so intense, so razor-sharp, it could slice through steel.

A silent threat. A warning. A declaration of war.

And Lala?

She simply smiled.

Almost as if she was enjoying it.

Hina exhaled sharply and turned toward Kai, gripping his wrist before he could speak.

Her voice was low, serious. Deadly.

"Stay away from that girl. As far as possible."

Kai blinked, still unsettled.

"…Why?"

Hina didn't answer immediately.

Instead, she narrowed her eyes as she stared at Lala's disappearing figure while holding her boyfriend's wrist.

Then, she turned back to Kai and forced a small smirk, trying to shake off her own unease.

"Just trust me on this one, okay~? We'll talk about that later." She said, in a nervous way.

But the way her grip tightened around his wrist…

She was angry.

"H-Hey, Hina, you're hurting me-" Kai said, trying to break free.

Then, Hina snapped back to reality and left his wrist.

"O-Oh, sorry, dear..." She said, with a nervous laugh.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked, worried.

She nodded her head and she then spoke.

"Yeah. But I think that we should go to our classes now." She said, while looking around her, scanning the area.

"Oookay..." Kai replied in a confusing way, while touching his wrist.

Then, Hina gave him a rapid kiss on his cheek and she then headed towards the classroom.

Kai was still confused about this whole situation and he kept thinking for some other instants before finally entering the school.

As he did, he walked trough the corridors full of people in order to reach his classroom.

He stretched his arms and yawned a few times during the walk, randomly waving at some schoolmates that he knew.

It felt refreshing.

A glimpse of normality.

Nobody would've said that Kai was envolved in a criminal world and that he killed a man.

Many people at school only saw him as "The rich lonely boy", not knowing anything about him.

Others even said that he was a bad guy...

You know, voices.

Nobody really knew him.

After some minutes, he reached the classroom and noticed that some of his classmates were acting really strange.

Everyone was being very silent.

He looked around the classroom and said "Good morning" in a very shy way.

Everyone's attention moved towards him.

They looked at him with a very "hateful" look.

Kai felt strange.

"Ahem... Are you okay, guys?" He asked to everyone while getting to his desk.

No one replied, except Lucas, the nerd guy of the class.

"Suzuki-San... well... don't you know?" he spoke, from the bottom of the class.

Kai looked at his classmate with a confused look.

"About... what?" He asked.

"Well... today... there's the math test. Didn't you know that?" Lucas asked with a scared tone.

He was biting his nails in nervousness.

Kai's eyes widened as he saw his whole life playing before his eyes.

The math test.

He didn't even have a single moment to study.

"I'm fucked." he said to himself.

Math has always been one of his worst school subjects.

"Ah. I forgot." Kai said with his eyes open wide.

"Eh? How could you forget something like that, Suzuki?" Another classmate of him asked.

"I... had a lot of things to do..." He tried to justify himself.

But he didn't even have the time to speak with his classmate to get a strategy that the teacher entered the classroom.

All the students greeted him.

"Good morning, Sawazaki-San!" they all said, including Kai.

"Good morning, guys. I hope you're ready for the test." The teacher said, with an almost sadistic voice.

There was silence.

Only Lucas spoke. 

"Yeah, teacher." He said, with a scared voice.

After that, the teacher rapidly took out some sheets from his bag and distributed them to all the students in that class.

As soon as Kai saw the test, he realized that he was completely doomed.

Kai was doomed.

The numbers on the test paper blurred together into an incomprehensible mess.

Why? Because he hadn't studied. At all.

But you can't blame him.

He went trough a lot of events...

And now, the teacher was strolling between the desks, sharp eyes scanning for cheaters.

Kai subtly glanced to his left.

There sat Lucas—the class nerd, the only one who always studied everything.

A half-Japanese, half-American guy with glasses, neatly combed hair, and a reputation for acing every test without breaking a sweat.

The teacher also made everyone change their seats to avoid copying, so that's why Kai was next to him

Lucas wasn't the social type.

He had his group of fellow nerds, and they rarely interacted with the rest of the class.

But at that moment, Kai wasn't looking for a friendship.

He was looking for salvation.

"Alright, time to work some magic", Kai thought.

As the test papers were handed out, Kai stretched dramatically, "accidentally" dropping his pen under Lucas's desk.

Lucas barely reacted as Kai leaned down to pick it up—except Kai didn't pick it up.

Instead, he swiftly placed a small mirror shard against the leg of Lucas's desk at an angle.

It was tiny enough to go unnoticed but perfectly positioned to reflect Lucas's paper onto Kai's desk.

The reflection was reversed, but Kai was quick at flipping numbers in his head.

Perfect.

He then threw a micro-paper ball to draw his attention.

Lucas turned his glance towards Kai as soon as he saw the teacher not watching him.

He saw Kai with his hands in a praying position.

He was literally saying "Please let me copy and save me!"

Lucas had never been asked for help like this. He looked really happy.

He smiled at Kai and smirked.

"Leave everything to me." Lucas wanted to say.

Kai then pointed the mirror shard against Lucas' leg.

After the nerd noticed it, he adjusted his paper in order that Kai could see everything better.

And so, the test went on.

Kai scribbled down the answers at an impressive speed, all while maintaining the perfect posture of someone deep in thought.

By the time the teacher announced, "Five minutes left," Kai had successfully copied 90% of Lucas's test.

Just as he reached the last question, he tapped Lucas's foot under the desk, giving a light signal.

Lucas, still focused on his own test, tapped his pen twice on the table in response—a silent agreement.

Kai knew what that meant.

Lucas had given him the final answer, indirectly confirming Kai's work.

When the bell rang, Kai leaned back, satisfied.

As students stood up to give their tests to the teacher and leave, he turned to Lucas and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks, man. I owe you one." Kai said, while playfully hugging Lucas, almost making his glasses fall.

Lucas adjusted his glasses. "D-Don't worry... it's fine... everyone needs my help... I like to help people." He said, with a very innocent voice.

Kai chuckled. "You're a life saver. I promsise to offer you something one of these days, okay?"

For the first time, Lucas cracked a small, amused grin.

"Oh! T-Thank you, really! But it's okay!" Lucas said.

"Oh come on!! Don't be shy! Feel free to ask anything. I'm one of the main organizer of the school festival, you know." Kai said, releasing him from his "grip".

"Really...? I guess that I have a favor to ask then..." Lucas said, adjusting his glass again.

Then, he asked to Kai if his manga club could make an exhibition of their drawings.

"No problem. Leave everything to me." Kai said, with a proud tone.

Then , he showed him his fist.

Lucas looked at Kai's hand for a second, confused.

"Bro fist!" Kai said, smiling.

"O-Oh! R-Right!" Lucas said, doing the "Bro fist." 

After that, Kai then smiled at him one last time before grabbing his things and walking out the classroom.

He was headed towards the cafeteria, in order to grab something for the launch break before going to talk to the student council about Lucas' manga club.

---

During lunch break, just as Kai was about to grab his food, a student council member approached him.

"Kai Suzuki, the student council requests your presence immediately."

"Oh, wow, what a perfect timing..." He thought in his mind.

Then he sighed and said: "Okay... but can't I have lunch first?" 

The student shook his head and replied.

"I'm sorry, Suzuki... but it's a very important matter." He said, with a worried tone of voice.

"Okay, okay... let's go then." He said

He followed the student to the council room, expecting to be briefed about some festival work.

But when he entered, he immediately froze.

Waiting inside were Haruto, Emi Fujimoto…

And Lala.

A strange atmosphere filled the room as Lala sat elegantly with a knowing smile, her eyes flickering with amusement as she saw Kai enter.

Kai suddenly felt like he had walked into a trap.

"…What is this about?" he asked cautiously.

Haruto leaned forward, smirking. "Let's talk, Kai."